Cambodian Alliance for the Arts Teams Up with WayLay Design to Launch Brand New Redesign

With the help of WayLay Design, a Las Vegas web design company, non-profit organization Cambodian Alliance for the Arts has launched a brand new redesign of their website. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) March 23, 2011 - Cambodian Alliance for the Arts, a non-profit organization based out of Florida, teamed up with WayLay Design LLC, a professional Las Vegas web design company, to completely redesign and rebuild their blog website, http://www.cambodianallianceforthearts.com.

Cambodian Alliance for the Arts (CAA) was founded in August of 2010 by two long-time friends, Tyan Young and Sophia Sanh. They started the organization with the mission to create awareness by recognizing, encouraging, and promoting Cambodian artists throughout the world as well as philanthropic organizations that aid in the improvement and well-being of Cambodia. CAA does this by consistently interviewing and showcasing Khmers who are in the creative arts industry on their website to help promote these inspiring and aspiring individuals.

Cambodian Alliance for the Arts has done, and will continue to do, wonders for the Cambodian community, creating a stronger sense of unity between younger generations even on an international scale. The support that CAA has found on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in such a short time span proves that their organization's mission is working! CAA has interviewed such professionals as Remy Hou (a fashion designer who has worked with such celebrities as Justin Bieber, John Legend, Katy Perry, and more), Christophe Lan (a French Cambodian singer who tours with Mirabilia Musica), May-Lee Chai (the award-winning author of Dragon Chica), Sath Nop (founder of Sakiri Vodka), Jessica Theary Sim (a fashion designer who has worked on video shoots for Lil Scrappy, Ciara, Young Joc, Field Mob, and more), Karen Tep (model, actress, and Cambodian rights activist), Emmanuelle Nhean (world-renowned abstract artist), and so many more. With such an exponentially growing audience and more interviews being lined up with Khmer artists and professionals, CAA decided to redesign their website to allow for better navigation, increased avenues of social sharing methods, and incorporate a clean, more magazine-style type of design.

CAA also had a goal of wanting to be able to obtain additional funding sources by allowing website visitors to donate through PayPal and sponsors to advertise on the website. CAA also partnered with a few other vendors, Pursuit for Vintage (pursuitforvintage.com) and CamboFresh (cambofresh.com), who have agreed to place their products for sale on CAA's site, with a percentage of the sales being donated to CAA to help support the organization's efforts.

CAA's redesign all started with a free web design mockup that turned into a full-on website project. Cambodian Alliance for the Arts requested a free website mockup from WayLay Design through their website, http://www.wedidyoursite.com. After reviewing CAA's instructions on the type of audience they wanted to appeal to, as well as the look and feel they wanted to achieve, WayLay Design came up with a homepage mockup that included a very clean, contemporary design with several different features aimed at allowing website visitors to easily share CAA's blog posts, pages, and products across various social media platforms. Based on the mockup, CAA made the decision to work with WayLay Design to help rebrand and rebuild their website.

The main focus area at the top of the page is designed to be a showcase of current artists and interviews. The Featured Posts section is a sliding area that incorporates several interview posts with a brief excerpt of each and link to the full posts. After all, that is CAA's purpose - to showcase artists and interviews - so this seemed to suit the design well. WayLay Design also included prominent "Share" buttons with each post and product page to promote interaction and make it very easy for their visitors to help spread the word about CAA through their favorite social media platform as well as the ability to share via email. WayLay Design also included the typical social icon dock in the top sidebar for visitors to quickly find them across several social media networks to learn even more about CAA.

In keeping with CAA's logo, WayLay Design went with an orange color scheme to help brighten up the page and deliver a "fresh" look. The orange is the primary color and shades of gray are used as an accent color to help strengthen the overall design so that the orange did not take away from the seriousness of the site. The grays are also reminiscent of the magazine / newspaper style.

To further promote the magazine style to the page, WayLay Design decided use more of a vertical orientation for recent blog post images, placing the introductory excerpt to the right of the image rather than below a horizontal image. The vertical orientation is a bit different than the standard small thumbnail image or horizontal orientation and helps to differentiate the site from other similar sites.

With CAA's goal of spreading their reach internationally, WayLay Design incorporated an easy-to-find site translation tool powered by Google which allows visitors to translate the site into a variety of different languages ensuring accessibility worldwide. This particular design also includes an area in the sidebar for sponsor links and affiliate marketing ads to help generate funds to further support their cause, as well as a bright, hard-to-miss "Help Us Grow" donate button at the top of the page.

WayLay Design rounded out the design with one last call to action to get the visitor involved. The section in the footer is a message for visitors to tell their story about what they're doing in their communities. Users are encouraged to submit their work or achievements to be featured on the site. WayLay Design also wanted to include a personal touch at the end by providing a brief introduction to CAA's co-founders, Tyan and Sophia. This is intended to "put a face with a name" if you will. The goal is to give visitors the overall feel that CAA is personable, accessible, and community oriented.

Overall the site has a much cleaner and elegant look to it, providing the magazine style feel that CAA was looking for. The design flows well from top to bottom and leads the visitor through the plethora of information without boring them or turning them off with too much clutter. Since the launch of the new website on March 12, 2011, CAA has seen a dramatic increase in traffic as reflected in their drastic improvement in website ranking, and CAA's efforts will only continue to be rewarded by the full support of the Cambodian community to show that no matter what trials and tribulations the Khmer community has faced in recent decades, nothing can stop younger generations from pursuing their dreams!

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